Winning Edge: January 2020 - BESMA 2019

Page 16

YOUR SECRET SALES WEAPON: WOMEN CASSI ROPER considers the surprising underrepresentation of women in the sales profession

I

f I told you there was a way to increase your win-rate by 11%, you’d raise an eyebrow. If I added that it would also improve your working environment, bring fresh optimism to your whole sales team and give you new insights, you’d probably be suspicious. Fortunately, it’s a weapon anyone in sales can employ: women. Research by Gong, a firm that supplies a self-learning conversation analytics engine, has 14 WINNING EDGE

14-15 Roper Redgate REVISE.indd 2

revealed that women close 11% more deals than men. This wasn’t some minor study either – it was the result of analysing 30,469 sales calls. The research concluded that women also close deals at a faster rate than men. Similarly, when Joël Le Bon was a professor at the University of Houston Bauer College of Business, he gave the students of his sales CRM class a sales assignment every semester. Over 16 semesters from 2010 to 2018, there were 59% more top-performing women than men – and the women outperformed the men by 52%. That’s a promising start, but there’s a problem. While statistics from sources like the US Bureau of Labor show that the ratio of women in sales occupations is 49%, big variations occur ISMPROFESSIONAL.COM

07/02/2020 19:46


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.